Republican Accused By Democratic Representatives Of Wanting To “Put A Bullet In The Head” Of Another Politician

Several Democratic state representatives accused a Republican of menacing to “put a bullet in the head” of a fellow politician on the Texas House floor on Monday. The threat is part of a protest against a new immigration law.

The protest

The protest was against bill SB4, an anti-“sanctuary cities” law that requires local police, under the risk of jail and removal from office, to force federal immigration law.

Adversaries of SB4 have complained and filed lawsuits against the bill that Governor Greg Abbott signed and approved earlier this month.

Hundreds of protesters are putting on red t-shirts and singing “lucha” “fight” while holding banners reading “See you in court!” protestors made sure they aren’t going anywhere. They were cheering, blowing whistles and chanting: “Here to stay!” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho SB4 has got to go!”

State troopers removed the protestors from the gallery. However, they continued their protest inside the ground floor rotunda.

The threat

At afternoon, a news conference was held where the Democrats said Republican Matt Rinaldi threatened to shoot Poncho Nevarez, a Democrat.

On Monday afternoon, Rinaldi stated on Facebook that Nevarez had “threatened my life on the House floor after I called Ice on several illegal immigrants who held signs in the gallery which said ‘I am illegal and here to stay’.”

Claiming that “several Democrats encouraged the protesters to disobey law enforcement”, Rinaldi added: “When I told the Democrats I called Ice, Representative Ramon Romero physically assaulted me, and other Democrats were held back by colleagues.”

Rinaldi alleged to have been menaced twice by Navarez and said he “made it clear that if he attempted to, in his words, ‘get me’, I would shoot him in self defense”.

“I am currently under [Department of Public Safety] protection,” he continued. “Several of my colleagues heard the threats made and witnessed Ramon [Romero] assaulting me.”